1988 Cellnet Superprix

After the 18th and final round of the 1988 B.A.R.C./B.R.D.C. Lucas Formula Three British Championship, the mobile telephone company Cellnet, who were already sponsoring the Intersport Racing team, organised an invitation non championship, end of season race. This race was held at Brands Hatch, on the 9th October. Although Avon Tyres still supplied the tyres, Cellnet decided to increase interest by introducing a compulsory wheel change mid-race. They requested that the changes should be visible to spectators, so Avon came up with the idea of painting the whole side of the tyres.^[1]

Report

Entry

A total of 39 F3 cars were entered for this event. Come race weekend eights cars failed to arrive in Kent for qualifying.^[2]

Qualifying

John Alcorn took pole position for Pacific Racing Team in their Toyota-engined Reynard 883, averaging a speed of 95.862 mph.^[2]

Race

The race was held over 45 wet laps of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. With a full grid of 28 cars, the start was quite a fraught affair as various drivers, with nothing to lose, took risks not usually attempted during a championship race. This ended in tears for some. Damon Hill didn’t even finish the first lap and Kenny Bräck and Jonathan Bancroft went out in the next lap. During the race, the wheel changing was full of drama as the teams finally put into practice what they had been learning, some successfully, others not! Paul Warwick in his Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard was also victim retiring after an overheated engine. Gary Brabham took the winner spoils for the Bowman Racing team, driving their Ralt-Volkswagen RT32. The Aussie won in a time of 37:10.92mins., averaging a speed of 87.436 mph. Second place went to Jason Elliott and Sweden’s Rickard Rydell finishing third. The ‘fastest wheel change’ prize of £1,000 in loose £1 coins in a sack, was won by Middlebridge Racing which was a bit of a bonus a their driver, Phil Andrews, had driven a good race to finish 5th.^[1][3]

Classification

Race

Class winners in bold

Pos.	No.	Class	Driver	Entrant	Car - Engine	Time, Laps	Reason Out
1st	5	A	Gary Brabham	Bowman Racing	Ralt-Volkswagen RT32	37:10.92
2nd	27	A	Jason Elliott	Eddie Jordan Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 883	37:33.31
3rd	8	A	Rickard Rydell	Picko Troberg Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 883	37:33.72
4th	4	A	Peter Kox	Cellent Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT32	37:38.73
5th	30	A	Phil Andrews	Middlebridge Racing	Reynard-Toyota 883	44
6th	15	A	Roland Ratzenberger	TechSpeed Racing	Reynard-Toyota 883	44
7th	59	Nat.	David Brabham	Jack Brabham Racing	Ralt-Volkswagen RT31	44
8th	24	A	Philippe Favre	Alan Docking Racing	Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883	43
9th	43	A	Dennis Vitolo	Concept 3 Racing	Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883	43
10th	88	Nat.	Pete Boutwood	Terropol Promotions	Ralt-Volkswagen RT30	42
11th	14	A	Raphaël Real del Sarte	TechSpeed Racing	Reynard-Toyota 873	42
12th	77	Nat.	Scott Stringfellow	Jim Lee Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 873	41
13th	90	A	Harry van den Berg	Cellnet Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT32	41
14th	85	Nat.	Robert Murphy	Jim Lee Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 873	40
DNF	16	A	Ross Hockenhull	Bowman Racing	Ralt-Volkswagen RT32	44	Crash
DNF	71	Nat.	Robert Amrén	Alan Docking Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 873	40	Crash
DNF	33	A	Jeremy Payne	Anglia Cars Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT32	37	Spin
DNF	2	A	Eddie Irvine	West Surrey Racing	Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT32	35	Misfire
DNF	10	A	John Alcorn	Pacific Racing Team	Reynard-Toyota 883	34	Engine
DNF	1	A	Paul Warwick	Eddie Jordan Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 883	33	Overheating
DNF	6	A	Giovanna Amati	Cellent Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT32	30	Engine
DNF	58	Nat.	John Penfold	Jack Brabham Racing	Ralt-Volkswagen RT31	29	Crash
DNF	36	Nat.	Giles Butterfield	GB Motorsport	Reynard-Volkswagen 863	26	Crash
DNF	26	A	Oswaldo Negri	Racefax Motorsport	Ralt-Volkswagen RT32	18	Stuck throttle
DNF	89	Nat.	Tom Brown	JB Race Hire	Reynard-Volkswagen 873	17	Spin
DNF	3	A	Jonathan Bancroft	Madgwick Motorsport	Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883	2	Crash
DNF	35	A	Kenny Bräck	Formula Services	Reynard-Toyota 883	2	Crash
DNF	29	A	Damon Hill	Cellnet Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT32	0	Crash
DNQ	78	Nat.	Charles Rickett	Jim Lee Racing	Reynard-Volkswagen 863
DNQ	63	Nat.	Ronnie Grant	Ronnie Grant	Ralt-Volkswagen RT30
DNQ	45	A	Guido Basile	Terropol Promotions	Ralt-Volkswagen RT32

• Fastest lap: Eddie Irvine, 44.34secs. (95.545 mph)

^[4]

References